Background and early career

Martin Sandberger was born in Berlin Charlottenburg as a son of a director of IG Farben. Sandberger studied law at the Universities of München, Köln, Freiburg and Tübingen.[2] At the age of 20 he joined the NSDAP and the SA. From 1932 - 1933 Sandberger was a Nazi student activist and student leader in Tübingen. On 8 March 1933 Sandberger and fellow student Erich Ehrlinger raised the Nazi flag in front of the main building at the University of Tübingen.[3] (Like Sandberger, Ehrlinger would take charge of an Einsatzkommando in 1941, and in so doing, commit thousands of murders.)

By 1935 he had obtained his doctorate degree.[4] As a functionary of the Nazi student League he eventually became a university inspector. In 1936 he became an enlisted member of the SS and under the command of Gustav Adolf Scheel for the SD in Württemberg.

He began a career with the SD and by 1938 he had risen to the rank of SS Sturmbannführer (major). Sandberger worked as an assistant judge in the Interior Administration of Württemberg and became a government councillor in 1937. [2]

Activities during the Second World War

Following the German invasion and occupation of Poland in September 1939, Heinrich Himmler embarked on a program, known as Heim ins Reich (approximate translation: Return to the Nation) which involved driving out the native population in areas of Poland and replacing them with ethnic Germans (Volksdeutsche) from various countries, such as the Baltic states and Soviet-occupied eastern Poland. On 13 October 1939 Heinrich Himmler appointed Sandberger the boss of the Northeast Central Immigration Office (Einwandererzentralstelle Nord-Ost) and tasked with the "racial valuation" (rassische Bewertung) of the various Volksdeutsche immigrants.

Knowledge of the Führer Order

The Nazi organization most responsible for carrying out The Holocaust in the Baltic states was the Security Service (Sicherheitsdienst), generally referred to by its initials SD. The SD, which organized the Einsatzgruppen, conducted itself in accordance with the understanding that a fundamental order, sometimes called the Führer Order (Führerbefehl) existed to kill the Jews.[1] Sandberger received his knowledge of the Führer order from Bruno Streckenbach, an official with Department IV of the German National Security Main Office (Reichssicherheitshauptamt, or RSHA).[1][5] According to Sandberger's testimony as an accused in the Einsatzgruppen trial after the war, Streckenbach gave a speech (at the Gestapo headquarters in Berlin on Prince Albertstrasse) about the Führer order, which Sandburger attended.[1] Streckenbach also gave Sandberger explicit instructions in a personal conversation:

Streckenbach personally informed me about the Führer order, which said that, in order to secure the Eastern territory permanently, all Jews, Gypsies, and communist functionaries were to be eliminated, together with all other elements who might endanger security.[6]

Transfer to Estonia

Sandberger entered Riga with Einsatzkommando la and 2. These organizations then engaged in destruction of synagogues, the liquidation of 400 Jews, and the setting up of groups for the purpose of fomenting pogroms. After the war, when on trial for war crimes, Sandberger's effort to evade responsibility was rejected by the tribunal: "Although it has been demonstrated that not only he was in Riga at the time they occurred, but he actually had a conversation about them with the Einsatzgruppe Chief Stahlecker before he left Riga."[2]

In early July, 1941, Sandberger was sent to Estonia on the orders of Stahlecker. According to Sandberger's later testimony, Stahlecker made it clear that Sandberger was being sent to Estonia to carry out the Führer order in that country.[1] A variety of shooting actions of Jews, Gypsies, Communists and the mentally-ill took began once Sandberger and his kommando entered Estonia. A report dated 15 October 1941 on executions in Ostland during Sandberger's tenure included one item under Estonia of 474 Jews and 684 Communists.

The arrest of all male Jews of over 16 years of age has been nearly finished. With the exception of the doctors and the elders of the Jews who were appointed by the special Kommandos, they were executed by the self-protection units under the control of the special detachment la. Jewesses in Pärnu and Tallinn of the age groups from 16 to 60 who are fit for work were arrested and put to peat-cutting or other labor.
At present a camp is being constructed in Harku in which all Estonian Jews are to be assembled, so that Estonia will be free of Jews in a short while.[2]

Others were arrested and sent to concentration camps.[2] Report No. 17, dated 9 July 1941 carried the item —

With the exception of one, all leading communist officials in Estonia have now been seized and rendered harmless. The sum total of communists seized runs to about 14,500. Of these about 1,000 were shot and 5,377 put into concentration camps. 3,785 less guilty supporters were released.[2]

On 10 September 1941, Sandberger promulgated a general order for the internment of Jews which resulted in the internment of 450 Jews in a concentration camp at Pskov, Russia. The Jews were later executed.

Sandburger was highly recommended for promotion in the SS:

* * * He is distinguished by his great industry and better than average intensity in his work. From the professional point of view, S. has proved himself in the Reich as well as in his assignment in the East. S. is a versatile SS Fuehrer, suitable for employment.
S. belongs to the Officers of the Leadership Service and has fulfilled the requirements of the promotion regulations up to the minimum age set by the RF-SS (36 years). Because of his political service and his efforts, which far exceed the average, the Chief of the Sipo and SD already supports his preferential promotion to SS Standartenfuehrer.[2]

Actions in Italy

Sandberger returned to Germany in September 1943.[2] In the fall of 1943, Sandberger was appointed the Gestapo chief for the Italian city of Verona. In this capacity he was involved in arresting the Jews of Northern Italy and organizing their transportation to Auschwitz concentration camp.[citation needed]

Espionage activity

In January 1944 Sandberger became head of the Foreign Intelligence service (Organisation des Auslandsnachrichtendienstes), division A of Department VI of the RSHA. In this position he reported directly to Walter Schellenberg. He kept the domestic and foreign accounts and financial records of the organization.[7] As the first assistant to Schellenberg, Sandberger acted as his liaison man with Heinrich Himmler.[8]

With all the access he had had to highly secret information, after the war, under British interrogation, Sandberger tried to delay or avoid prosecution by disclosing what he knew.[9] Until internal reports of the Einsatzgruppen were discovered, Sandberger was able to convince the British interpreters that his account of his activities in Talinn as the Kommandeur der Sicherheitspolizei (or KdS) had involved "'no evidence of any particular criminal actions on his part.'" [9]

Trial

In the Einsatzgruppen trial, Sandberger was charged with crimes against humanity, war crimes, and membership in a criminal organization, that is, the SS. At his trial, Sandberger denied responsibility for the killings described in the October 15 report, and sought to blame on the German field police and Estonian home guard. This was rejected by the tribunal, which found that the Estonian home guard was under Sandberger's jurisdiction and control for specific operations, as shown by the same report. Similarly, Sandberger claimed he had arrested the Jews sent to Pskov to protect them, hoping that during the internment the Führer order might be revoked or meliorated. and he was not in general responsible for their execution at the Pskov detention camp. Sandberger said he was responsible for "only a fraction"[2] of the killings. Sandberger placed this "fraction" at 300 to 350 persons.

Q. The sum total of Communists seized runs to about 14,500; do you see that?
A. Yes, 14,500, yes.
Q. That means 1,000 were shot?
A. Yes, I get that from the document.
Q. You know it. Did you know of it? Do you remember it?
A. The report must have been submitted to me.
Q. Then at one time, at least, you knew of it?
A. Yes.
Q. Were you in Estonia then?
A. Yes, but they were not shot on my own responsibility. I am only responsible for 350.
Q. You are responsible for 350?
A. That is my estimate.[2]

Sandberger claimed the execution of the Jews at Pskov happened in his absence and without his knowledge. The tribunal found that Sandberger's own testimony convicted him:

Q. You collected these men in the camps?
A. Yes. I gave the order.
Q. You knew that at some future time they could expect nothing but death?
A. I was hoping that Hitler would withdraw the order or change it.
Q. You knew that the probability, bordering on certainty, was that they would be shot after being collected?
A. I knew that there was this possibility, yes.
Q. In fact, almost a certainty, isn't that right?
A. It was probable.[2]

Q. You collected these Jews, according to the basic order, didn't you, the Hitler Order?
A. Yes.
Q. And then they were shot; they were shot; isn't that right?
A. Yes.
Q. By members of your command?
A. From Estonian men who were subordinated to my Sonderkommando leaders; that is also myself then.
Q. Then, in fact, they were shot by members under your command?
A. Yes.

* * * * * * * * *

Q. Then, as a result of the Fuehrer Order, these Jews were shot?
A. Yes.[2]

Sandberger testified that he had protested against the inhumanity of the Führer order, but his account was not accepted by the Nuremberg Military Tribunal which was conducting the trial: "Despite the defendant's protestations from the witness stand, it is evident from the documentary evidence and his own testimony, that he went along willingly with the execution of the Fuehrer Order."[2]

Death sentence and reprieve

Sandberger was found guilty on all counts. In September 1947,[10] Judge Michael Musmanno pronounced the tribunal's sentence:

"Defendant MARTIN SANDBERGER, on the counts of the indictment on which you have been convicted, the Tribunal sentences you to death by hanging.[11]

Despite political pressures, General Lucius D. Clay confirmed Sandberger's death sentence in 1949.[9] In 1951, Sanberger's sentence was later commuted to life imprisonment by a clemency board acting under the authority of John J. McCloy, the U.S. High Commissioner for Germany.[9][12] McCloy had received political pressure to grant the reprieve from William Langer, U.S. Senator from North Dakota. Many of Langer's constituents were of German descent, and Langer felt that trial of anyone other than the highest Nazis was contrary to American legal tradition and helped Communism.[10]

Sandberger's father, a retired production director of IG Farben, used his connections with West German president Theodor Heuss.[13] Heuss in turn contacted the US Ambassador at that time James B. Conant with the request for pardon. Numerous pleas for leniency from influential individuals including Minister of Justice Wolfgang Haußmann and Landesbischof Martin Haug were made. The renowned lawyer and vice-president of the West German German parliament Carlo Schmid worried about Sandberger's conditions in Landsberg prison and spoke out in favor of a commutation.[13] Over time these and other well-connected people lobbied for Sandberger's early release. By late 1957, there were only four war criminals held in prison in West Germany. One of them was Sandberger, who, on January 9, 1958, was himself released from Landsberg prison.[13]

As of September 2009, Sandberger is alive. He is the highest ranked SS officer known to be alive, and one of the oldest living SS officers of World War II.

War crimes trials and evidence

Stahlecker, Franz W., "Comprehensive Report of Einsatzgruppe A Operations up to 15 October 1941", Exhibit L-180, translated in part and reprinted in Office of the United States Chief of Counsel For Prosecution of Axis Criminality, Nazi Conspiracy and Aggression, Volume VII, pages 978-995, USGPO, Washington DC 1946 ("Red Series")